The curriculum for the Residency Program at the University of Florida Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine is organized into a basic four-year training period that prepares residents to practice pathology. Throughout the basic training period, under faculty supervision, each resident will:
- Preview more than 2,000 surgical pathology cases
- Examine more than 500 cytology specimens
- Perform more than 200 intraoperative consultations (frozen sections).
- Perform at least 30 autopsies;
In addition to exposing residents to the full spectrum of anatomic pathology and clinical pathology, our schedule includes elective rotations during which residents can pursue additional training in their areas of interest. An example of a first-year schedule is shown below. [Note that our calendar is based on 13 four-week blocks per year.]
Schedule Highlights:
- First two blocks are Intro to Laboratory Medicine and Intro to Surgical Pathology
- Three blocks of autopsy completed during first year
- Dedicated Frozen Sections block
- Roughly 1/4 of time is spent at Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, which entails a general sign-out approach and a dermatopathology subspecialty sign-out.
- ~2 elective blocks per year beginning second year
- Spring of fourth year focused on solidifying clinical pathology, laboratory management skills, and dedicated study for board examination
- Surgical pathology subspecialty rotations include: breast, genitourinary, gynecologic, placenta, ENT, gastrointestinal & liver, cardiopulmonary, orthopedic (bone & soft tissue), dermatopathology, renal, and neuropathology
- Other anatomic pathology rotations include: cytopathology and forensics
- Clinical pathology rotations include: CP core (involving chemistry, hematology, microbiology, and electrophoresis), blood bank, molecular, hematopathology, cytogenetics, toxicology, immunology, and lab management
Example First Year Schedule:
- Intro to Laboratory Medicine
- Intro to Surgical Pathology
- Blood Bank
- Clinical Pathology Core
- VA Surgical Pathology
- VA Surgical Pathology
- VA Cytology
- Breast Pathology
- Autopsy
- Autopsy
- Autopsy
- Frozen Sections
- VA Surgical Pathology
In addition to the education provided by performing clinical duties, residents also learn through official teaching conferences. These conferences include many formats including scope sessions, workshops, resident presentations, and formal didactic sessions. Our conferences are organized by organ system and are on a two-year cycle. The example schedule from one month is listed here:
Tuesday 9/7: Intro to Quality Improvement Workshop with Dr. Olgaard
Wednesday 9/8: Soft-Tissue Unknowns with Dr. Nasri
Thursday 9/9: Hemophilia with Dr. Harris and Call Review
Friday 9/10: GI Lymphomas with Dr. Chaffin and Medical Student Presentation
Monday 9/13: Intro to Hematopathology with Dr. Seifert
Tuesday 9/14: Low-Grade B Cell Lymphomas with Dr. Yang
Wednesday 9/15: Grand Rounds (“Oxalate handling by the GI Tract: Don’t forget the liver!”) with Dr. Whittamore
Thursday 9/16: ABGs and A-a Gradients with Dr. Winter
Friday 9/17: GI Polyps Scope Session with Dr. Feely
Monday 9/20: Plasma Cell Neoplasms with Dr. Yang
Tuesday 9/21: Reactive Lymph Nodes with Dr. Chaffin
Wednesday 9/22: Soft Tissue Unknowns with Dr. Nasri
Thursday 9/23: Program Director Meeting and Call Review
Friday 9/24: Cytomania! with Dr. Gonsalves
Monday 9/27: DLBCL with Dr. Seifert
Tuesday 9/28: Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma and Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma with Dr. Seifert
Thursday 9/30: Blood Bank with Dr. Mukhtar
Friday 10/1: Don’t Fear the Smear! with Dr. Seifert